The High Court of Uttarakhand has directed that 65 drains emptying untreated waste in to the Ganga river should either be stopped or diverted. The court has also directed that the treatment of these drains should be ensured within the set time frame.
The directions were issued by the division bench of acting chief justice Rajiv Sharma and justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari. The court had taken suo motto cognisance regarding contamination of water of the Ganga river and took it up as a PIL.
It was stated in the petition that several drains end up in the Ganga from its point of origin to Haridwar which is contaminating the water of the Ganga.
The court also directed that tender process for cleaning of Ghats in Haridwar should be completed in 21 days. Work on drains dumping waste into the Ganga without treatment at various locations along with sewer treatment plants should be completed by March 2019. The court appointed the potable water secretary as the nodal officer for implementation of its directions and disposed of the petition.
